Tycho Brahe – The Father of the Modern Scientific Method?, by Dr Emma Perkins

The latest in the current season’s History of Astronomy meetings took place at Royal Museums Greenwich on 21st April. The talk, entitled “Tycho Brahe and his Legacy”, was given by Dr Emma Perkins of the Department of History and Philosophy of Science at Cambridge University.

Emma started by describing Tycho’s early life in Denmark. He was born in 1546, heir to several noble families. He grew up well educated, and his interest in astronomy as a youth led him to learn the night sky with the help of a small sky globe. A turning point in his life came in 1572, when one night he noticed a new bright star in the constellation of Cassiopeia - a supernova.

Taking measurements of the position of this new star over a period of months, Tycho discovered that it showed no parallax against the background stars, implying that this new star, or “nova” as he later named it, was beyond the Moon and the other planets of the Solar System.

In 1576, the King of Denmark, Frederick II, granted Tycho an estate on the island of Hven, in the strait between Denmark and Sweden. Here he built the observatory of Uraniborg, the first large Christian observatory in Europe. Assisted by a team of observers, he devoted the following years to the creation of increasingly accurate instruments, mainly sextants, quadrants and armillary spheres, and to developing measurement techniques to chart the heavens.

Rather than taking a single measurement of a star or planet, he would organise his observers to measure the same star or planet using different instruments. Moving his observers from instrument to instrument over time, he could determine not only the best instrument and technique for making a measurement, but also who were the best observers. This allowed him to carry out a form of error analysis and reduction, enabling him to improve measurement accuracy.

Was this the birth of the modern scientific method?

Before his death in 1601, Tycho Brahe was assisted by Johannes Kepler, who later used Tycho’s measurements to develop his Laws of Planetary Motion and finally establish the heliocentric view of the universe.

Tycho Brahe’s work on the techniques needed to make highly precise astronomical observations was a major contribution to John Flamsteed’s work at the Royal Observatory, with Flamsteed considering himself to be the successor to the “Noble Dane”.

Many thanks to Emma for giving such an interesting and informative talk. Thanks also to Mark and Phil for contacting Emma and organising this talk, and to Simon and the RMG IT staff for making the evening run smoothly.

Pictures from the evening (by Bobby Manoo):